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Associate Professor David Rolph

Profile

Degrees

BA (Hons I) LLB (Hons I) PhD Sydney

Courses Taught

  • Torts
  • Media Law
  • Intellectual Property

Current Areas of Research Interest

  • Defamation
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Negligence
  • Conflict of laws

Biographical Detail

Following graduation, Associate Professor Rolph worked as tipstaff and research assistant to Justice Simos in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. In 2005, he was awarded his doctorate for his research into the concept of reputation in defamation law. Associate Professor Rolph joined the Faculty of Law at the University of Sydney as a lecturer in January 2005. He is admitted as a legal practitioner of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. He is the editor of the Sydney Law Review and also serves on the editorial boards of Communications Law, the Communications Law Bulletin and the International Journal of the Semiotics of Law.

Publications

Books | Book Chapters | Refereed Journal Articles | Other Journal Articles | Reference Works | Conference Presentations

Books

  • Rolph, D, Vitins, M, and Bannister, J, Media Law: Cases, Materials and Commentary, Oxford University Press: Melbourne (2010).
  • Rolph, D, Reputation, Celebrity and Defamation Law, Ashgate: Aldershot and Burlington (2008).

Book Chapters

  • Rolph, D, 'Looking Again at Photographs and Privacy: Theoretical Perspectives on Law's Treatment of Photographs as Invasions of Privacy' in A Wagner & R Sherwin (eds), Law, Culture and Visual Studies Springer: Netherlands (forthcoming 2012).
  • Rolph, D, 'Politics, Privacy and the Public Interest: A Case Study from Australia' in D Dorr and R Weaver (eds), The Right to Privacy in the Light of Media Convergence: Perspectives from Three Continents, De Gruyter: Berlin (2012) 65-87.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Defamation’ in C Sappideen and P Vines (eds), Fleming’s The Law of Torts (10th Edition), Thomson Reuters: Sydney (2011) 613-82.
  • Rolph, D, ‘The Mechanical Eye: Looking, Seeing, Photographing, Publishing’ in G Sykes (ed), Courting the Media: Contemporary Perspectives on Media and Law Nova Publishers: New York (2010) 75-98.

Refereed Journal Articles

Other Journal Articles

  • Rolph, D, ‘Towards an Australian Law of Privacy: The Arguments For and Against’ (2012) 31(4) Communications Law Bulletin 9-14.
  • Rolph, D, 'The interaction of remedies for defamation and privacy' (2012) 108 Precedent 14-17.
  • Mowbray, J & Rolph, D, ‘“It’s A Jungle Out There”: The Legal Implications of Underbelly’ (2009) 28(1) Communications Law Bulletin 10-16.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Are Juries Necessary? The role of juries in defamation trials’ (2009) 92 Precedent 10-14.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Preparing for a Full-Scale Invasion: Truth, Privacy and Defamation’ (2007) 25(3/4) Communications Law Bulletin 5-8.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Uniform at Last? An overview of uniform, national defamation laws’ (2006) 76 Precedent 35-38.
  • Rolph, D, ‘News from Australia’ (2005) 19(1) Intellectual Property Journal 245-251.
  • Rolph, D, ‘News from Australia’ (2005) 18(3) Intellectual Property Journal 469-476.
  • Rolph, D, 'Gillooly, M, The Third Man: Reform of the Australasian Defamation Defences' (2005) 27 Sydney Law Review 761-64.
  • Rolph, D, ‘News from Australia’ (2004) 18(2) Intellectual Property Journal 267-275.
  • Rolph, D, ‘News from Australia’ (2004) 18(1) Intellectual Property Journal 123-130.
  • Rolph, D, ‘News from Australia’ (2004) 17(2) Intellectual Property Journal 293-99.
  • Rolph, D & Weatherall, K, ‘Implications of Dow Jones v Gutnick: Strum und Drang or Storm in a teacup? - Part 2) (2003) 6(2) Internet Law Bulletin 18-22.
  • Rolph, D & Weatherall, K, ‘Implications of Dow Jones v Gutnick: Strum und Drang or Storm in a teacup? - Part 1’ (2003) 6(1) Internet Law Bulletin 7-11.
  • Rolph, D, ‘News from Australia’ (2003) 17(1) Intellectual Property Journal 117-124.
  • Rolph, D, ‘News from Australia’ (2003) 16(3) Intellectual Property Journal 625-630.
  • Rolph, D, ‘News from Australia’ (2003) 16(2) Intellectual Property Journal 381-388.
  • Rolph, D, ‘News from Australia’ (2002) 16(1) Intellectual Property Journal 123-128.

Reference Works

  • Rolph, D, ‘Negligence’, in Halsbury’s Laws of Australia, LexisNexis: Sydney (updated 2011).
  • Rolph, D, ‘Defamation’, in Halsbury’s Laws of Australia, LexisNexis: Sydney (updated 2011).
  • Rolph, D, ‘Media and Communications’ in Halsbury’s Laws of Australia, LexisNexis: Sydney (updated 2009).
  • Rolph, D, 'Contempt' in Halsbury’s Laws of Australia, LexisNexis: Sydney (updated 2008).
  • Rolph, D, 'Limitation of Actions' in Halsbury’s Laws of Australia, LexisNexis: Sydney (updated 2008).
  • Rolph, D, 'Tort' in Halsbury’s Laws of Australia, LexisNexis: Sydney (updated 2007).

Conference Presentations

  • Rolph, D, 'Judicial Perceptions of the Media: Three Views', presented at Media, Communication, Publics: CMCL Conference, Melbourne Law School, 26 February 2013.
  • Rolph, D, 'Towards an Australian Law of Privacy: The Arguments For and Against', presented at Comparative Perspectives on Privacy and Media Law Conference, Clare College, Cambridge, 27 June 2012.
  • Rolph, D, 'Celebrity Reputations on Trial', presented at Culture Industries and the Franchise Workshop, University of New South Wales: Faculty of Law, 9 July 2011.
  • Rolph, D, 'Politics, Privacy and the Public Interest: A Case Study from Australia', presented at the Privacy Discussion Forum - Perspectives on Privacy: Examining the Challenges to Privacy Through Tort, Constitutional Law and Administrative Lenses, Mainz, Germany, 23-24 June 2011.
  • Rolph, D, 'Doing Free Speech Differently: A View from Australia' presented at the Institute for International Law and Public Policy, Temple University, Philadelphia, 14 April 2011.
  • Rolph, D, 'Who is a Publisher? Common Law Approaches to the Liability of ISPs and Search Engines for Defamation', presented at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication, 4 April 2011.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Recent Developments in Justiciability and Jurisdiction in Intellectual Property Cases’, presented at the Australasian IP Academics’ Conference, University of New South Wales: Faculty of Law, 5 February 2011.
  • Rolph, D, 'Interlocutory Injunctions for Defamation and Invasion of Privacy', presented at CMCL Annual Conference 2010: Media, Communications and Public Speech, University of Melbourne, 25 November 2010.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Legal Publishing from the Perspective of Editor and Author’, presented at Sydney Law School Postgraduate Conference: Law and Social Reality, Sydney Law School, 29 October 2010.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Privacy and Name Suppression’, presented at the Twentieth Annual Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Association Conference:'Sport and the Media – In the Spotlight’, Sydney, 9 September 2010.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Does Defamation Law Have A Sense Of Humour?’, presented at the Australasian Humour Studies Network 2010 Colloquium: ‘Risk-Taking and Transgression in Humour’, University of Sydney, 13 February 2010.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Defamation and the Internet in Australia and Hong Kong’, presented at the Law & Technology Centre, University of Hong Kong: Faculty of Law, 18 January 2010.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Judicial Perceptions of the Media’, presented at a Lunchtime Seminar, University of Sydney: Faculty of Law, 5 November 2009.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Contemporary Challenges of Media Law in Australia and Singapore’, presented at Rights, Regulation and Responsibility: Australian and Singaporean Perspectives, University of Sydney / National University of Singapore, 31 July 2009.
  • Rolph, D, ‘The Right to Reputation’, presented at W(h)ither Human Rights: 25th Law and Society Conference 2008, University of Sydney, 12 December 2008.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Responsible journalism and qualified privilege: Lessons for Australia from the United Kingdom’, presented at the Centre for Media and Communications Law Annual Conference 2008: Media, Communications and Public Speech, Melbourne Law School, 21 November 2008.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Privacy and Photography: Some Preliminary Thoughts’, presented presented at a Lunchtime Seminar, University of Sydney: Faculty of Law, 5 June 2008.
  • Rolph, D, 'Privacy issues for artists', presented at the Arts Law Centre and the City of Sydney, Rex Centre, Potts Point, 3 April 2008.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Privacy Protection in Australia and the United Kingdom: Current Developments and Future Directions’, presented at Research Seminar, University of Technology, Sydney: Faculty of Law, 30 October 2007.
  • Rolph, D, 'Now What?: Uniform , National Defamation Laws and Beyond', presented at a Lunchtime Seminar, University of Sydney: Faculty of Law, 27 July 2006.
  • Rolph, D, ‘At long last: the impact of uniform, national defamation laws in Australia’, presented at Commercial Law Association 2006 Leading Edge Thursday Seminar Series, 25 May 2006.
  • Rolph, D, 'The Concept of Reputation in Australian Defamation Law: A Case Study', presented at MediaCommLaw 2005 Conference, Melbourne Law School, 2 December 2005.
  • Rolph, D, Panellist, 'Teaching Media and Communications Law', MediaCommLaw 2005 Conference, Melbourne Law School, 2 December 2005.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Perverse or Unreasonable? The implications of John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd v Rivkin on defamation jury verdicts’, presented at Law in a Changing World, 5th Annual PG Conference, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney, 2003.
  • Rolph, D, ‘The Concept of Reputation in Defamation Law’, presented at Rights & Wrongs: Judging the Law, 4th Annual PG Conference, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney, 2002.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Publication, Reputation and Jurisdiction: the challenges of defamation in a globalised world’, presented at Law, Culture, Social Change: Legal Responses to Innovation, 3rd Annual PG Conference, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney, 2001.
  • Rolph, D, ‘Risk, Fault and Responsibility in the Law of Tort: The case of alcohol server liability’, presented at Risk and Responsibility: Changing limits to Law, 2nd Annual PG Conference, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney, 2000.